This morning has been spent wiping the tears of hysteria from my cheeks. I have been translating a badly written tourist text for a place that shall remain nameless. Usually, when doing such documents, I end up dreaming of holidays and wishing I were a thousand miles away from my computer. This morning I was [...]
Filed under: Language, Translation on February 10th, 2010 | 7 Comments »
Just in case any of my non-UK readers did not understand the Cockney rhyming slang in my previous post, there follows an annotated version below.
Me old china [My old china plate = mate] was just telling the trouble and strife [= wife] that now you can go dahn [down] the ole rattle and tank [= [...]
Filed under: Language, Words on August 25th, 2009 | Comments Off
Me old china was just telling the trouble and strife that now you can go dahn the ole rattle and tank to get a speckled hen – or any amount of sausage and mash as it ‘appens – no Lady Godivas though – if you just enter your Huckleberry Finn in the machine. Might go [...]
Filed under: Language, Words on August 24th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I recently received notification via a translators’ website of a software programme purporting to be indispensable to all those earning their living from writing in one way or another. The blurb breathlessly promised translators, journalists and copywriters that they would create flawless sentences using this company’s brand new “grammer and writting software”.
Apart from the fact [...]
Filed under: Language on August 20th, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I forgot to mention to my gentle readers that when I was telling my friends about my trip to the German church service, I mentioned that I had not been able to hear all of the sermon.
Kerensa: …but the general theme was Jesus and the vine
Friend:… Jesus and the what?
Kerensa: You know, that bit in [...]
Filed under: Language, Words on May 6th, 2009 | Comments Off
This afternoon I visited my neighbour, Mrs Cupcake, for a cup of tea and a chat. Her 3 year-old son, Master Cupcake, was drawing a picture at the table as we chatted and occasionally would interrupt us.
I said somebody “was going through an unhappy phase”. Master Cupcake said, “What’s an unhappy phase?” As he said [...]
Filed under: Language, Words on March 16th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Ethiopia
Languages: Amharic*, Oromo, local languages
Ethiopia has considered itself a Christian country since the fourth century – and its Christian roots are sometimes traced back to the story of the Ethiopian eunuch told in Acts 8.
Other major religions are growing in influence in Ethiopia and much anti-Christian teaching is spread. Violence against Christians is increasing in [...]
Filed under: Christianity, Language on March 7th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Auntie Kerensa is very proud of her twin niece and nephew, Northern Star and Big Lad. As regular readers will know, the children are almost entirely bi-lingual as they have a Danish mother and an English father. As they are only 10 years old (the twins, not their parents), they are still learning both languages. [...]
Filed under: Denmark, Family, Language on February 22nd, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Pennsylvania Dutch is the language spoken by the Amish communities in the US. The Dutch bit of the name is not Dutch at all but a corruption of the word “Deutsch” (German). This community left Europe (mainly Germany and Switzerland) in the 1700s to escape religious persecution. They live their lives pretty much the same [...]
Filed under: Christianity, Language on February 19th, 2009 | 8 Comments »
Jack the Lass and Farli have been comparing notes on how to rack up the number of words required for their essays (writing chapter headings and bibliographies first seems to have the required psychological effect for getting over the terror of facing a blank page).
I am currently ploughing my way through a 2,000-word powerpoint presentation [...]
Filed under: Community, Language, Translation, Words on April 15th, 2008 | 3 Comments »